Eminor3rd

QUOTE (Y2JImmy0 @ Aug 26, 2013 -> 06:54 PM) I totally agree. What is McCann looking at? More or less than the contract that Dunn signed 3 years ago? Before this past season, I'd say to always assume it'll end up much more than we think, but then Bourn and Swisher both ended up signing surprisingly small contracts. That said, I can see some teams going high AAV for a shorter term commitment, so 3/45 seems minimum for a FA class as weak as this. Plus all of the mystical "TV Money™" from the MLB is supposedly kicking in next season. I guess I'd probably be down for McCann if (a) his price is on the low end of what we'd expect, and (b) if we don't land Abreu. If what I've heard from BA/BP podcasts is true regarding Abreu's defense, I think we'd be committing a lot of money to a DH logjam (especially if you think Viciedo sticks around) in a few years if we got both, and that's realistically when positional and financial flexibility should be the most value to us.

I go back and forth on the idea of McCann. On one hand, he's 29 already and injury prone, but on the other, he's 20 times better than any C in our system, there's no one around to clog up 1B/DH after next year, I think the team can be competitive in 2-3 seasons while he will still be able to hit, and there's a chance his contract stays reasonable if teams see him as risky at C for more than a year or two.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Aug 26, 2013 -> 01:58 PM) Hawk and Stone were actually talking about this the other night. Hawk admitted that there are fans who could manage a game just as well as Robin. He said though that managing the personalities is the biggest skill now, however. I do think that is an important skill, and one that we really don't know how to quantify. Agreed 100%. And I think a lot of it has to do with circumstance -- I think the team could respect and play well for a ton of guys if they can make a good initial impression on one another.

QUOTE (fathom @ Aug 25, 2013 -> 04:15 PM) Is Hawkins the most disappointing offensive prospect in baseball this year? Cody Buckel is probably the most disappointing pitching prospect in the minors. He's the youngest guy in the league. I say no.

This manager thing is overblown, IMO. I guess you can make an argument for a change of scenery, but I don't think it matters much who that is, so long as it is someone generally capable. I wouldn't throw big bucks at anyone, Scioscia included.

QUOTE (balfanman @ Aug 26, 2013 -> 12:50 PM) I can be tolerant of Dunn in the lineup, excited actually, but please "NO MORE DUNN HITTING 3rd! All sabermetric arguments aside -- which tend to show that the prototypical three hitter would fare better in the 2 spot and that sluggers that hit homers and avoid grounding into double plays and are the team's 4th or 5th best hitter would be better in the 3rd slot -- Dunn has been the team's best overall hitter for three months now. Assuming Konerko is done, would would you rather put there? Also notice my scenario has Alexei traded.

QUOTE (bbilek1 @ Aug 26, 2013 -> 12:18 PM) I can't imagine going into next year and only adding one play to the MLB roster. That bench is atrocious. Morel and Flowers are AAAA players, Tekotte sucks and having Danks and him on the same team makes no sense. I think the bench for next year is... 1.) Catcher - Flowers or Free Agent 2.) Leury Garcia 3.) Jordan Danks 4.) Keppinger/FA/ST standout 5.) FA/ST standout The problem is that you need to give guys at bats. Dump Flowers/Morel? Sure, I mean that's fine. But this isn't a good team for picking up a bunch of cast-off/trade deadline gambles like the Cubs have been doing, because a lot of our "core" young guys are ready to transition to the ML. Also, I totally forgot Keppinger in my roster. So Morel is out anyway.

QUOTE (CaliSoxFanViaSWside @ Aug 26, 2013 -> 11:34 AM) No Petricka ? ^ Good call, I'd prefer him over Axelrod in the long role, with a shot at taking Lindstrom's job.

CF L A. De Aza 2B R G. Beckham DH L A. Dunn 1B R J. Abreu [WISHFUL THINKING] LF R D. Viciedo RF R A. Garcia 3B L C. Gillaspie CA R J. Phegley SS S L. Garcia BN R T. Flowerrs BN L B. Tekotte BN L J. Danks BN S C. Sanchez BN R B. Morel SP L C. Sale SP L J. Quintana SP L J. Danks SP R A. Rienzo SP R E. Johnson RP R A. Reed RP R N. Jones RP R M. Lindstrom RP L D. Veal RP L L. Septimo EDIT: RP R J. Petricka TRADED: SS R A. Ramirez (for prospects or M. Adams from STL if possible and as an alternative to Abreu) SP L H. Santiago (for prospects of the hitting variety, close to ML ready if possible) PROSPECTS TO FACTOR: RP R D. Webb (M. Lindstrom to be traded eventually, or someone else to be ineffective) IF S M. Semien (Second stab at C. Sanchez's job if the former excels or the latter struggles) 1B R A. Wilkins (If Abreu/Adams can't happen or if Dunn is eventually traded) OF R T. Thompson (If De Aza is eventually traded or in a bench role to replace Danks/Tekotte)

I'm going to drink beer and watch part of the game maybe and whatever.

QUOTE (The Ginger Kid @ Aug 23, 2013 -> 11:23 AM) What about Rios? I think everyone already forgot him.

QUOTE (Quinarvy @ Aug 23, 2013 -> 01:47 AM) And you call people bums who never try. Thank you for pointing out this hypocrisy. There are days where all greg ever DOES on here is make bold, insulting personal conclusions about players for which he has no information about.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 22, 2013 -> 02:25 PM) Ceiling? Not much if any. The guy hit one off of the facing of the Comcast Fundamentals Deck. Garcia has massive power potential. Not with the swing he has right now.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 22, 2013 -> 02:07 PM) Look at the title of the thread. It's bound to be controversial with one outspoken Ozzie supporter still around. Why can't he just be remembered fondly? Anybody who can lead a Chicago baseball team to a WS title is doing something right. Do you realize w/out 05 Chicago remains the laughingstock of baseball? That stuff at the end was inevitable. Managers are hired to be fired/replaced. It was bound to be ugly and the way it went down, Ozzie ended up being the bad guy with fans even though the front office was happy Miami took him off the Sox's hands. You seem to be giving him some massive chunk of the credit for the WS title. He was the manager, not one of the players. Sure, he had some part in it, but it's not like he put the team on his back and made it happen. Overrated player, overrated manager, totally childish and unprofessional person.

WOOO back end starters, yeah!

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 21, 2013 -> 05:59 PM) This is why advanced stats bother me. You can say all you want. The eye test tells me Ozzie was a good player. Not great or anything, but good. Didn't he even make the all-star team a few times?? I used both advanced stats and regular old stats to make that argument. What is more basic than batting average and homeruns? Point to any number at all to show he was a good player. I'm trying to find something and I'm not finding anything. Eye test? What looked good about that batting line? He was a really good defender in the 80's, sure. If your definition of a good player is "was good at defense for one third of his career and absolutely horrible at every other aspect of the game the entire time" then I really don't know why you hate guys like Alex Rios and Adam Dunn. Did he make an all-star team? Probably, but so did Cesar Izturis. In a year when he hit .257/.302/.322, lol. That means nothing.

Hahahaha

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 21, 2013 -> 04:02 PM) He was a good player and good ss. He probably should have taken more walks, but aside from that he was damn good. He was a glove-only player that got way more playing time than he deserved. Doesn't matter how you slice it, he was a poor baserunner and a liability at the plate. You can attack it sabermetrically or non-sabermetrically. Career .264/.287/.338 hitter with 28 homers over 15 years. Successful stolen base rate of just 61%, -11.4 career runs on the bases. Two of 15 seasons where he worked out to be an above-average regular by WAR, accumulating just 13.1 over his career -- ten of those wins coming from defense alone, nearly all of that during his first five seasons. In fact, by UZR, he was an elite defender from 1985 - 1990, slightly above average from 1991 - 1994, and a flat out defensive liability from 1995 - 2000. I'm just not seeing it. He was a bad hitter and bad baserunner who lost most of his range after the first third of his career. I'm open to arguments the other way, I just can't imagine what they'd be.

QUOTE (ron883 @ Aug 21, 2013 -> 01:39 PM) The score was recently talking about some celebrity softball tournament going on, and they mentioned ozzie was playing in it. my first thought was "i dont want this piece of crap returning to chicago." The dude is completely unprofessional, packed it up early with the sox, and has a complete jackass of a son. everything about this guy leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This old article pretty much sums up a lot of my feelings. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/10/24/baf...aseballs-ditka/ how do you think he will be remembered? I hope that that people will dislike him for the piece of crap that he is due to the new age of media. The dude is completely ungrateful to the sox, and wasn't a major piece in the world series IMO. Will he become a chicago legend like ditka, or will people remember him for how awful he was in the later years? I'll remember him as a jerk. He was an overrated player, too. It's great that he was part of the WS, but the way his career ended was downright unprofessional. He got paid way too much money to act like a child

Semien homers off some Yankees jerk: http://www.milb.com/multimedia/vpp.jsp?content_id=29774691 Something about that follow through reminds me of Gordon Beckham.

I'm excited about him too, but let's not make him this into the next Gordon Beckham thread quite yet The biggest reason to be hopeful, to me, isn't that slash line (anyone can get hot for ten games), but the fact that he's been selective. He hasn't started walking yet, but if he keeps his O-Swing around league average like he has, the walks will come. And if they don't, it's fine because if he's only swinging at good pitches, he's going to be finding plenty of hits anyway.

QUOTE (TaylorStSox @ Aug 20, 2013 -> 06:00 PM) This always cracks me up with outfielders. We can't see the play develop on TV so fans missed the Aaron Rowands of the world diving because they broke in on a ball that was crushed or vice versa. It shouldn't happen as much with infielders though. The legend of Jim Edmonds

QUOTE (chw42 @ Aug 20, 2013 -> 04:51 PM) Well in the eyes of pretty much all fans... Errors during crucial situations = this guy sucks in the field Great plays in not as crucial situations = this guy has range, but still sucks in the field. To the eyes of most fans: He made a diving play, he has great range.

QUOTE (greg775 @ Aug 20, 2013 -> 04:16 PM) Frankly, I'm just sick of losing and being one of the worst teams in baseball and IMO Lexi's errors have contributed to that greatly. He's not the only guy obviously whose weaknesses have turned the Sox into a joke of a team, though. Hope he excels next season. He's been a +5 defender this year. He hasn't made many more errors than usual. Even those he's having a rough year, he's still been an above average defender overall. EDIT: He's got 20 errors, his totals the last four years were 12, 16, 20, 20. Like wite said, it's more, but it's not egregiously more.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Aug 20, 2013 -> 03:36 PM) Because I think there's something to be said for having TWTW, at least on a small scale It's a different way of saying some guys pitch better under pressure. Except in this instance, the pressure is maintaining a lead. I think the TWTW is real, I just don't think that the Wins statistic quantifies it.